by Angela Hoy
You know, they should really give people a license before they turn them loose on the Internet.
Last week, I was alerted by a Booklocker.com author who found a fr*e copy of his book on the Internet. It was posted on the foreign website of a CPA. I started composing a letter to the CPA, telling him he was violating copyright laws, etc. In the process, I started hunting around on his website for his contact information. And, hoo boy, did I find that and more! I found not only the copyrighted book, but also his workout schedule, a list of debts he owed to his girlfriend, music lyrics and what appeared to be actual music files, a bunch of tax forms, his resume, other meaningless stuff and, you’re not going to believe this one, a copy of his actual personal income tax return.
I assumed this guy was some kind of exhibitionist weirdo who posts every tiny detail of his life online (kind of like those people who have webcams in their homes). However, when I found his girlfriend’s tax return posted as well, that gave me a huge pause. I was willing to bet she didn’t know he’d posted her entire tax return (which included her tax ID number) on the Internet for the world to see! (They aren’t from the U.S., which is why I’m not writing “social security number.”)
I’d obtained what I needed (his name and address) and finished my email to him. I closed by saying, “Does *Linda know you’ve posted her tax ID number and her income tax return on the Internet for the world to see?”
His almost-immediate response let me know I was wrong. He’s not an exhibitionist. He’s just incredibly stupid. He quickly removed his files from public view and, instead of thanking me from protecting him and Linda from future ID thieves, threatened to sue me. Yes, you read that right. He accused me of “breaking into” his files and said he was going to call his “favorite lawyer” on Monday.
I replied by thanking him for removing the book from his website and then explained to him that you can’t post something on the World Wide Web with no password protection or encryption, and then sue someone for stumbling upon it. I told him anybody with a web browser could view his information and that his files (and, yes, even his and Linda’s tax returns!) were archived by search engines. How else did he think our author found his copyrighted book posted to that site?!
I didn’t bother to wish him luck getting all the search engines to remove the cached copies if his and Linda’s tax returns from their systems. That’s going to take forever.
We, of course, didn’t hear from him again. Gads, I wonder if his accounting clients’ tax returns were posted, there, too. I didn’t look at his entire site. And, as I said earlier, it was pretty boring.
I hope I gave you each a giggle today…or at least shake of the head.
*The girlfriend’s name was changed to protect the innocent.